There are have been techniques designed for alleviating the ear block discomfort of passengers in traveling elevator cars, ascending or descending: one is making an elevator move at a low speed (Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2); and another is controlling air pressure inside an elevator car so that the air pressure changes at a constant rate (Patent Document 3).
FIG. 19 shows a speed control pattern of an existing elevator.
Referring to FIG. 19, in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, an elevator car moves from a starting floor to a destination floor at a low speed (indicated by a broken line a2), which is slower than a rated speed (indicated by a solid line a1).
In the case of Patent Document 1, the operational speed (a rated speed or a low speed) of an elevator car is selected according to a passenger operation of a floor switch at an elevator lobby.
In the case of Patent Documents 2, the operational speed of an elevator car is automatically switched according to the travel distance of the elevator car from a starting floor to a destination floor.
FIG. 20 shows a pattern of an air pressure control of an existing elevator.
In the case of Patent Document 3, air pressure inside an elevator car is controlled to have a linear change (at a constant rate) as a broken line c2 shows in FIG. 20.
Referring to FIG. 20, a solid line c1 shows a change pattern in air pressure in an elevator car when it is not controlled.
As the solid line c1 indicates, air pressure in an elevator car without control shows a change similar to a letter S on the whole. Specifically, air pressure in an elevator car changes in a curved fashion as the elevator car is accelerated when leaving a starting floor; then the inside air pressure changes in a linear fashion as the elevator car performs a constant speed operation at a rated speed until approaching the vicinity of a destination floor; and the inside air pressure changes in a curved fashion as the elevator car is decelerated when approaching the destination floor.    Patent Document 1: JP 11-79571 A    Patent Document 2: JP 7-112876 A    Patent Document 3: JP 10-182039 A    Non-patent Literature 1: “Analysis of Tympanic Membrane Behavior and Ear Block Discomfort for Super High Speed Elevators” by Kiyoshi FUNAI, Yoshikatsu HAYASHI, Takayuki KOIZUMI, Nobutaka TSUJIUCHI, and Mitsuharu OKAMOTO; “Elevator, Escalator and Amusement Rides Conference 2004”, pp 27-30, Jan. 21, 2004, Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME)